BATTLEBORN # 1
Edited by Sean C. W. Korsgaard
Published by Iron Age Media
From the very first page there is an atmosphere of blatant enthusiasm about Battleborn magazine, and you can tell straight away those involved in it have a love for the genre which is infectious.
The fiction opens with a Hanuvar story by Howard Andrew Jones, perhaps the greatest sword and sorcery writer of recent years, who died at far too young an age in January last year. Though part of Hanuvar’s ongoing saga (see the volumes from Baen Books: Lord of a Shattered Land, The City of Marble and Blood, and Shadow of the Smoking Mountain) “A Stone’s Throw” is a standalone story about an assassination attempt, though the reason for it is far from what even Hanuvar himself at first assumes. A well-wrought tale, it exemplifies why Howard Andrew Jones is held in such high esteem.
In complete contrast the following a tale, “Blood of the Oni” by C. L. Werner, is set in medieval Japan during the time of the Shogun, involving a sorcerously empowered sword, unscrupulous treachery and a truly hellish monster. I loved the neatly placed historical details in this story, which is far more complex than I at first expected and features some of the most realistically detailed sword fights I have ever read. C. L. Werner obviously knows what he is writing about.
Gregory D. Mele, who authored the third tale here, “Jaguar’s Children”, is familiar to me as he had an extraordinary story in Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 10 (“The Salt of Tilantokka”) last year. This again has a South American setting, laced with ancient peoples and piracy and a strange, sacred, crimson bird. Memorably action-filled.
This is immediately followed by another action story, “Vengeance Vow” by T. J. Marquis, wherein a huge assassin ingeniously tricks his way into a highly-fortified king’s palace during a day of drunken, drug-filled debauchery in honour of the nation’s depraved gods. His mission is to kill the king in retribution for what was done to his people. But things become far more complex than he expects by the time the deed is about to be done.
One of Robert E. Howard’s heroic poems follows, “The Road of Kings”, to remind us of whom we owe the genre of sword and sorcery.
Erik Waag’s “To Boast of Victory” is an amusing tale with more than a few twists, not the least of which comes at the very end. Recommended.
“Temple of the River King” by Lee Patton is a much more sombre affair. Rightly compared to Clark Ashton Smith for his colourful imagery, this again is filled with ongoing action with a protagonist who is uniquely macabre, and would, I am sure, have appealed to Smith himself. I am pleased to see other tales of this ancient, undead warrior have already been written.
I was a trifle unsure about the next story, “The Fury’s Blade” by Robert Rhodes, with its two female Furies, armed emissaries of their church, charged with recovering a stolen relic, namely a sacred cloak. Female sword-fighting protagonists is becoming something of a cliché these days. But I was soon won over. Wonderfully well-written, with a storyline that never becomes predictable or boring, this is another outstanding tale.
It’s good to see that unlike too many periodicals Battleborn does not shy away from publishing reprints. Obviously, we have already had the Howard poem, but there is also a long out-of-print novelette from the pen of the late Michael Shea, “the last sword and sorcery writer to win a World Fantasy Award.” “Pearls of the Vampire Queen” is new to me – although I must admit I haven’t, so far as I am aware, previously read anything of Michael Shea, even though my friend, Jim Pitts, illustrated a deluxe copy of The A’rak (part of Shea’s Nifft the Lean series) for Centipede Press. “Pearls of the Vampire Queen” is another Nifft the Lean story – and a uniquely strange tale it is, highlighting Shea’s intricate writing style and deft use of grotesque imagery. It is set in a very dark world, one in which there is safety for no one, especially those who, if only for the merest moment, succumb to complacency and let down their guards. After reading this, I will certainly seek out other Nifft the Lean tales. And it is to Battleborn’s credit it has highlighted a writer who should not be forgotten.
Other than these novelettes and short stories there is also part one of a three-part serial: “The Last Spell” by Schuyler Hernstrom, which I deliberately left till last to read. And I can see what a cunning ploy it was to include this serial – as nothing could possibly create greater inducement to buy the next two issues than to read the rest of this novel! Extremely well written, wickedly amusing, and filled with inventiveness.
Other than stories, novelettes and a serial there are also a number of columns, which add to the broader interest of the magazine.
At over 200 pages, Battleborn is a substantial read, with ne’er a poor story anywhere in sight. Definitely an important addition to the growing number of sword and sorcery publications appearing today in what is truly an exciting period in our genre.
